Cetan-maza   (Iron Hawk: Oglala Culture Hero)


This tale in Lakota!

1.   Where the sun emerges, there in a certain yonder spot was a camp of small people.

2.   And some distance from the circle, there stood a little tent alone, and there a little old man and a little old woman lived.

3.   Now, both were of a naturally small nation of people, but they were even smaller, yet they were energetic, and the woman was especially quick and alert.

4.   So one day her husband was sitting indoors beside a dead fire and smoking;   with eyes shut he was meditating, and now and again he puffed on his pipe, and so he sat.

5.   It was windy outside, so his little wife was adjusting the tipi-flaps, and she happened to appear, just her head thrust inside the door, and she said:

6.   "Old man, I think I'll go for firewood;   and by and by, when it is evening I will return to cook." So, without any attempt to open his eyes he said, "Very well, then;   why not!"

7.   So with thong-rope coiled she was going as if flying, so fleet she was, a little somebody characterized by her tendency to walk pigeon-toed; " and disappeared into the wood.

8.   But suddenly she stopped short;   she saw something ... and there where the recent floods had matted down the red grass like a ground covering of straw, in the midst of it a newborn babe lay howling and kicking.

9.   It lay still attached by its cord, "O!   O!   My grandson!   My grandson!" So saying, half-crying, she took up a piece of bark with an edge like a sharp blade, and with it she cut his cord, and then took him up.

10.   And the little thing stopped his howling instantly, so she said, "Well, Grandson, has somebody, to hide her shame, left you here thinking you would die?

11.   "But you shall not die, Grandson! ... red grass is sacred ... lying on it thus, how could you die?" In such words she comforted him.

12 - 13.   Immediately now, formerly so seriously intent on wood-gathering, shrilly she ran shouting, so the old man came outside.

14.   "Husband, I bring our grandson home! ... somebody trying hard to hide her shame left him in the wilds but I bring him home ... she thought to cause his death but I have already spoken it out loud, "He shall not die, my grandson!" she said.

15.   As for the old man, enthusiastically he went towards them, "Come mine!   Come mine!" In such words he went reaching out for him and took him.

16.   "Hao,   hao,   Grandson, when days are overcast and I am gloomy, is it possible after all that I shall have something to cheer me up!" Saying it he went into the tipi bearing the babe.

17.   It was evening, the sun was now set, and the infant cried. So his grandfather mixed red paint and fat together, and with it he went all over the little body, anointing it and rubbing it, and saying at the same time:

18.   "My grandson, though he is without his natural fare, yet I shall raise him ... Grandson, to the south is a day, indistinct, which shall come to soothe little children;   so, Grandson, you too he will soothed;   yours shall be a morning's rising without body wearied by pressure (on the hard ground); " then from the east a man emerges who sees the whole world face to face at once;   and when he sees some pitiable one he says:

19.   "'Ah, the poor thing! " but just for that, he shall live!' When he thinks of anybody, that one does live and grow up;   now then, when he sees you somewhere lost in the crowds of men, may he think thus of you, so that you may have a firm hold upon life, my grandson!" So saying he rubbed his body all over until he was asleep.

20.   In the morning at dawn the old woman rose and was about to build the fire, when she hurriedly wakened her husband.

21.   "Old man, get up and do look at our grandson!" so he pushed himself into a sitting position, and there was the grandson, sitting up and looking intently about the interior.

22.   Starting at the base of each tipi-pole, he followed it upward with his gaze to where it ended in the cluster of poles tied together.

23.   So, "That is right, Grandson, you do look about well ... it is here that you are to grow up inside this place, so get acquainted with it!" he said and the little thing appeared to understand him.

24.   Again it was evening, and the sun had set and the child was inclined to fret, so once more the old man mixed red paint and fat and rubbed it all over his body and used the same words as before, talking in the boy's behalf;   and so he put him to sleep with his voice.

25.   It was again morning, so the old woman got up to build her fire and went out to get firewood, and then through the tipi-walls she wakened her husband.

26.   "Why say, take a look at Grandson, why do you lie there so, old man!" she said, so still in his sleep he sat up and there was his grandson, now a tall little thing, having stood up by his own power, he stood in the midst of the tent, with nothing to support him.

27.   Instantly the old man, most delighted over it, said, "Well, well, Grandson, that is the way!   He who is so eager to be a relation to this earth that he wants to step on it at such a tender age does himself a favor! ... For in that way he will get a firm hold on life. You give me and yourself something to be grateful about, Grandson!" So saying, happily he talked on and on.

28.   Again at sundown in the evening the little boy was fretful, so his grandmother was hard put to find how to quiet him, but he made himself more and more fretful, and finally he was crying.

29.   Again his grandfather mixed red paint and fat, and with it he anointed his whole body till it was all red, and he said:

30.   "Now, sleep, Grandson, sleep!" and he said such words in the child's behalf as he had spoken on previous evenings. All the while he soothed him by rubbing his body, and so he put him to sleep.

31.   It was morning again, and very early the boy said, "Grandfather, Grandmother, get up and come outside!" He repeated this continuously, so the two crowded each other in an effort to get out the door till it was hard to say which was going out first;   and the boy was now tall and he stood looking over the surrounding country with satisfaction.

32.   So the grandfather said, "Well, well, Grandson, Grandson, that is right!   You are going to use the hills (spots where it is pushed and stretched upward) as your step-taking places, so, that you may never lose your way, get acquainted with the land!" he said.

33.   Again it was evening, and now the boy would seem to be tall enough (too big to cry), but he did cry. So his grandfather anointed him all over, applying red on him, and said, "Now for the last time shall I apply my grandson's red paint for him."

34.   So while putting ointment all over his body, he said what he had been saying before, and now on this, the fourth evening, he said this:

35.   "Now, the man who comes out of the east and appears, looking into every face at the same instant, and spotting a pitiful one he has compassion on him, then if he further pleases to, he singles him out to wrap him in his light and sets him apart, and such a one lives a life of fame;   would he would do so to you!"

36.   Thus, with this prayer, he decreed for him a life of prominence.

37.   Next morning the boy called his grandfather outside, so he went and together they looked upon the land.

38.   It was then that he taught him, his grandson. He told him the various things that he must hold sacred and said:

39.   "Now, Grandson, that is called the west. There somewhere live the winged-ones, so remember that.

40.   "And their helper is Wind, so each day they attend to the world. They sweep and carefully wash it, so that thereby men of earth live healthy with fresh winds entering their bodies to revive them.

41.   "Over there is the north;   There live the ceremonially red people, their work is the food of earth, that is why they exist.

42.   "As for that direction, that is the east, and that is where the man appears, fiercely, and takes in everybody face to face at one glance, and whom he pities and warms is strengthened thereby.

43.   "Over there is the south, there lives a soother, and when he comes and sings to soothe the contents of the world, then they sleep.

44.   "Overhead is where something sits holy, and he chiefest of all sits holding the world;   and underneath is the earth our mother who nourishes us and makes us grow.

45.   "Now, Grandson, get acquainted with this life, for it is holy," he said.

46.   Thus he taught him, and then on that day he set him free;   all who grow upon this earth must go forth alone one day;   and that was why he did this;   for the elders cannot rightly hold onto their young forever;   of course when they are small, only;   but now when they can help themselves, they go alone;   that is the way life comes.

47.   Then in the morning the old man disappeared, and long after he had not returned.

48.   Then very much later he did return, and he brought a rib bone from the buffalo-bull;   and for some days he was improving it and finished by bending it into a bow;   and he had made a bow for shooting.

49.   He had made a sacred bow for the boy, and then from chokecherry wood he fashioned arrows, and with red paint he ornamented them.

50.   Having done so, then from his own head he took out a very long hair by the root, and stood holding it stretched tight and instructed him to shoot it.

51.   So the boy with his wits alert stood aiming, and sent it and he split the hair in two.

52.   And thus he had decreed for him that he should be a perfect marksman, so from then he was made to never miss his aim.

53.   So now, so armed with weapons as it were, he wanted to go hunting and went away.

54.   All day he was missing, and at evening he brought home a jackrabbit and presented it to his grandfather. It was to the west that he went and brought home the rabbit.

55.   So the old man was as happy as could be and said, "Good, good!   Grandson, that is right! ... This man never gets tired in his legs;   never does he give out in running ... Now then, eat a piece of him, so that you too may not tire in the legs, that without aches in your legs you may live to the end ... You have done yourself and me something to consider well!" (To be grateful for), he said.

56.   It was again morning, and he went hunting. This time he went north and stayed all day, and when it was evening he came home with a skunk that was surpassingly fat.

57.   Once more the old man, very happy, said, "Good, good, Grandson, you have done well. This man can teach you something. Throughout the night and day he forages for himself and has for his food all the smaller living beings, and so nothing hurts his intestines as he lives;   we are going to eat him, so well and healthy, nothing upsetting our intestines, we shall live, " he said.

58.   Again it was morning and he went off hunting. This time he went towards the east, and at twilight he got home with a badger.

59.   Because the boy had once again accomplished exactly what he had been taught, the old man cried out as if delirious with joy:

60.   "Well, well, Grandson, this man must have a special claim on the earth, for he burrows deep into it for his home. Today we are going to eat this man, so thereby we are going to be closely related to the ground," he said.

61.   Instead of tiring his feet out by walking, he grew to like it the more, so "Grandfather, may I go hunting again?" he said, and "Certainly for thus you are training yourself, why should you remain at home like a woman?   Certainly you shall go. Later by your continuing, finally you will bring home the chief of all food." So this time he went south.

62.   In the evening he brought home a deer, so the old man fell to butchering it and talked as he worked:

63.   "Well, well, it is good you have come home bringing game. Grandson, this man is especially fine ... This somebody picks and chooses the tender grasses and the tips of trees, which are good to eat.

64.   "Fastidious is this man, he chooses only food that emerges from the earth, he knows thereby he is strong and swift. We shall eat his flesh and then we too shall live with good flesh and be strong." So from there the boy learned to eat fruits and whatever grew from the ground, any thing planted too, that kind he learned to use for food.

65.   Now he had finished the four directions and from each had brought game, so it seemed he was through, but he went a fifth time toward the north and returned with a buffalo-calf.

66.   Taking his knife, he personally ripped open the belly and took out the liver still twitching with life and warm, and gave it to his grandfather, and " Grandfather, eat this," he said, so the old man fell upon it and with great desire he tore it to pieces with his mouth;   but it was comparable to nothing for its goodness.

67.   He took out the pylorus also and gave it to him, "Now old woman, this you must cook for me," he said on taking it, so she did.

68.   So he ate, and upon finishing he was so full of joy that he was unable to keep still.

69.   "Wife, so happy I am that I think I will herald it forth," and she said, "Well, why not!"

70.   At once he stood on a small knoll and with his body very straight upward, appearing so yellow of breast, he cried "Buffalo-calf liver, rich to taste!"

71.  And it then appeared that after all the little man who raised the child was a meadowlark-man.

72.   So to this day, even now when spring comes, he arrives and at once with joy he heralds, "Buffalo-calf liver, rich to taste!" Such have you all heard.

73.   Now that his grandson was such a skillful hunter the old man was so happy he hardly knew what to do, and one evening as the boy lay asleep he stood by him and prayed:

74.   "Well, well, well, how handsome is my grandson! ... Now then, Great Spirit, may it be that tomorrow my grandson shall be a young man, strong and tall and surpassingly handsome, and may child-beloved clothing be lying here for him when dawn breaks on him!" he said.

75.   Then he retired, and in the following dawn he for whom it had been prayed got up and said, "Grandfather, get up and look at me!   Here what you decreed for me has all come true!" So he looked and saw that it was even beyond what he had asked.

76.   "Thanks be, thanks be!   Grandson, put these on!   Of all the men of earth where has anybody such a grandson!" So saying he helped him to dress.

77.   Then the same day he heralded forth saying, "Now then, all peoples all over the earth, all that have life to stir on earth, hear ye!

78.   "This day my grandson whom I raised without his natural food;   who lay slimy in water having been left out to die but that I brought him home - that one today is to have a name, so hear it!

79.   "Had I chosen, I might have called him the abandoned one, but that does not please me, so he shall be called Iron Hawk!" So all the world heard his voice, and all in one day Iron Hawk was famous.

80.   He was such a good marksman that they lived well and had many visitors and did not lack for enjoyment, and then the youth said,

81.   "Grandfather, you raised me, and I am grateful, and thought to live here always, hunting for you;   but now for a time I have the urge to roam."

82.   And the old grandfather was suddenly saddened, as if the boy had struck him in the face. "Alas, Grandson, there is falseness on the way;   well enough you did live here!" So he forbade him, but though he seemed to give up for a time, invariably he again wished to travel.

83.   Thrice he forbade him, and when he asked a fourth time, then the old man permitted him to go.

84.   "All right then, you insist, so now you shall go," he said and gave him a holy knife and one that could cut through all difficulty it seemed, and also a cap to which two little end-claws of the great hawk were attached;   and he said, "Go cautiously, there is wakan in the way," he said. (bad magic, in this case.)

85.   So he took the presents and put on his cap and started off. Long he travelled alone, and then at last four young men, also supernaturally handsome, met up with him.

86.   Smiling, looking into his face, they continued, and one said, "Well, there was a famous young man at the eastern edge of the earth named Iron Hawk!   But who would have thought we would see him at this close range!"

87.   So they talked, and happily they greeted him, "Now then, friend, what is your errand?" Iron Hawk, smiling, said, "Well, of course all men of my age are interested in women;   so I too am traveling with such in mind, perhaps." "Well, friend, how fine;   for we too are doing the same!"

88.   Another said, "Come on, what is good about going our separate ways, let's all go as one!" so Iron Hawk was willing and went with them.

89.   So they went along, all so handsome, and after a while they saw a lake, so they made their way thither and arrived.

90.   And there along the water where the grass was short and soft, a solitary white tipi stood.

91.   "Now, this is the place," they said;   so they approached it, but uncannily around the tipi lay here and there human skeletons.

92.   Even so, paying no heed, they went and an old woman using a staff came out and stood regarding them.

93.   As they came near and stood she said, "Well, so my sons-in-law have come! ... Come on out, such as you are, you have visitors!" And from within some very beautiful girls came out and stopped, as if very shy.

94.   "Come then, Sons-in-law, these are they, do come on - to be sure," and she pushed them staggering towards the men.

95.   So just as the young men would take them by the hand, one after another, as they reached them, fell crumpling to the ground when the old woman pointed her wand at them.

96.   It was Iron Hawk's turn, but he was aware what was happening so he went forth alert, and as the old woman raised her staff upon his reaching for the maiden, suddenly he shot first, and with his sacred arrow his grandfather had made for him he shot her, breaking her into countless pieces that went scattering.

97.   She was a Rock woman, so she lived there with more magic than everyone else, but Iron Hawk had killed her.

98.   Hurriedly he made a sweat bath and revived his friends who lay as if dead, and gave them all wives, and so they took them off to their homes somewhere.

99.   And lo, all of them were Thunder men, so from either side of the mouth lightning in a wavy line ran down their legs and ended in forks over their feet, and was in continuous play, shining and flashing.

100.   And from the outer corners of their eyes other lines came and ran down thier arms and forked at their hands;   and those too were flashing constantly.

101.   As they were leaving they talked to Iron Hawk:   "Now, tell all your people, your fathers and mothers, your grandfathers and your grandmothers, your brothers and cousins, your female respect relations and your children, tell them all, from henceforth you shall not send forth your voice in vain.

102.   "Though you lay under the earth yet we shall hear your voice if you call, and come to you.

103.   "Tell it then, this day you are related to the Thunder!" they said.

104.   And they spoke truthfully, so that as long as Iron Hawk lived, when he faced trouble and called on the Thunders, they being the only really speedy beings, were instantly there to help him.

105.   From there he went northward and met a man out in the wilds, a tall and very distinguished looking man, well-dressed and handsome.

106.   He wore a buckskin coat, heavily fringed and tanned a bright brown, and in every respect he was very well gotten up (by his own efforts).

107.   "Well, well, friend Iron Hawk, is this you?   Well, why say, friend, how come you are traveling?" So again he confessed to his interest in women and the man said,

108.   "Well, friend, why I too am on a similar errand, so let's go together." So they went and came up over a hill beyond which appeared a thriving tribal circle.

109.   "Now, that's the place, my friend. That center-tipi is where a very handsome child-beloved lives, but her father withholds his own and says he will surrender her only to the man who can bring him a certain type of abalone shell that is found in the bottom of a pit nearby.

110.   "It is very deep and the shells lie very inaccessibly, so whoever tries invariably falls in and dies there," he said.

111.   "Well, friend, there is nothing but what can be attempted;   how utterly hard to get they must be indeed!" Iron Hawk said, and so, at once the other said, "Well, but really it is a task, you have no idea!   But if you wish let's go there and perhaps we can hang joined to each other, and we can try that way to get some shells." [Iron Hawk] agreed.

112.   So they went to the pit, very deep with a large chamber inside, but what answered for an entrance was a hole near which there was nothing to get a footing on.

113.   The man said, "Now then, I will hold tight to the edge of the opening here, and hang suspended from that, so sort of step down me as if to ease yourself downward, and have hold of my feet with one hand while you reach down with the other, and if you reach them, get a few of the shells.

114.   "But you are wearing fine clothes;   leave them here and try it naked;   thus it will be easier for you to move, and, too, you will not tear your fine clothes." So he did exactly so.

115.   Now the man, who was extra tall, hung suspended from the mouth of the pit, but though his feet seemed to reach the bottom, not quite.

116.   So Iron Hawk climbed down his body, sliding down it, and with one hand grasped the feet of the man, and with the other he took up a few shells, and as the man had instructed, he tucked them into his leggings.

117.   Now he was about to get some for himself, so he reached downward when suddenly the man struggled and kicked and made him weaken his grasp on the foot, so he let go and fell to the pit's bottom.

118.   "Friend, what is wrong?" he called, but not holding ear to it, the man was so strong that with no trouble he eased himself out and donned Iron Hawk's clothing and went off.

119.   "He did cramp my movements ... now at last I shall go forth to be a son-in-law, without being hampered," he said;   and come to find out, this was again Ikto [Iktomi] so dressed as a child-beloved, and he went towards the camp.

120.   And how gullible people are!   As he approached, men came out to meet him, "It is Iron Hawk who comes, the child-beloved from the edge of the world, so famous from there!" Saying, they crowded each other and leading him honorably, they took him to the chief's house.

121.   He drew some shells out of his leggings and presented them, so men and women sang his praises and called him brave;   for he had done what nobody else could, apparently.

122.   So they presented him with a wife, and all in a day he was established as a son-in-law.

123.   The wife, so long pampered, was rendered vain and proud, so thinking herself well wed, she grew too mean.

124.   She had a younger sister, a girl now in early womanhood, so when that one would approach her sister's home, just then she would order her off.

125.   "Go away!   Why must she insist on trying to glimpse my man, as if her eyes were worthy!" So she called her names, and the girl went crying somewhere. But being the youngest, nobody much looked out for her, all too preoccupied with her elder sister's marriage.

126.   Meantime near the pit where Iron Hawk lay lived an old couple.

127.   And the old woman, going by to hunt firewood, suddenly heard a child crying, so she stopped and listened more carefully, and verified that it was actually from the pit's bottom that someone cried out, so she lay flat and looked in.

128.   Not able to see well, being poor of eyesight, and because the pit was black, yet she knew it was a child, so she said, "O dear,   O dear, how more and more heartless people are growing!   What is the matter with these people indeed!"

129.   "Just wait, Grandchild, I will get you out!" So saying, she ran home and very soon brought a long pole with a rope tied to it and let it down.

130.   "Now, child, if it is within your reach, place your foot inside the loop of rope, and hold close to the pole, I will pull you out!" So now she brought him upward, but he was very heavy.

131.   She brought him up on top and saw a little boy with sores in the nape of his neck, pitiful and neglected.

132.   At once putting him on her back she took him home, and the old man was overjoyed and said, "Now, old woman, well have you done ... Can it be that Grandson will amuse me! ... as I grow older so I am often sad, but now!" So he led the boy inside.

133.   Soon afterward he said, "Grandfather I want some sinew." So, "Well, well, just what use have you for it, Grandson? ... Say, our grandson asks for sinew, old woman!" he said, so from a small parfleche bag she took out sinew that she had.

134.   So he instructed his grandfather to twist the sinew, and he crisscrossed it over a hoop, and hung the hoop indoors.

135.   "Now Grandfather, with Grandmother go beyond the hill and stay there, by and by I will come to you," he said, so "Why?" he thought, as with his wife he went away.

136.   Thus all alone inside in some mysterious ways he must have worked magic, but they did not see it;   some time later he went after them, so they came home with him.

137.   And inside were all the birds that are good for food;   ducks and geese of all kinds, and pheasnnts too, fluttering about;   but their feet were caught by one string or other.

138.   With a jumble of sound they all called out, so they all but broke the eardrums of the people.

139.   "Now, kill them and cook them," he commanded, so his grandfather with his friends had a great busy time chasing and killing all those birds. He ordered that the heads and feet of the birds should be laid by, which was done. He took these to the bank, and standing there "Now, go forth and make yourselves many!" he said as he threw them into the water, so first tens and then hundreds in groups went with water foaming behind them.

140.   "Grandmother, go and borrow a kettle, the people shall feast," he said, but the old woman was reluctant.

141.   "O dear, for so long now I lived out, I am shy. Whom shall I borrow a kettle of and who would lend it to me!" So she held back, but her husband spoke sharply to her:   "Do as he says;   what are you saying!   Here is a boy possessed with power, as though it were an idle wish, and such we were lucky to find for ourselves, and yet you are saying that!" So she took her shawl and went very haltingly forth.

142.   A woman lived in the end tipi, so she went there and told her wants, and the woman was very agreeable and lent her a kettle and came home with her.

143.   She helped, and they cooked all those fowls, but they seemed to grow in amount, so it was impossible to take care of them all.

144.   The woman's husband followed her, and when Iron Hawk's grandfather and this old man started to settle down to smoke, he said to them:

145.   "Why Grandfather, smoke any other time. Here food has been so scarce, so now all the people shall feast;   go and cry out the invitation. So he went off, proclaiming a feast.

146.   "Come now, out in the distance where a tipi stands, there on this day you shall feast. Go there;   Go there;   fasten your doorways and go there!" So he went round the circle and got back home, but already now the prople had come and sat down in four concentric circles.

147.   And lo, The Ragged Iron Hawk, as it were (the pseudo-), arrived first, and a mat was laid out for him in the center, so he sat there.

148.   But of course they did not know, he being related as son-in-law to the chief, he was repected, and much honored, and several men stood round him, each with a small piece of meat ready, enough for one chewing.

149.   One after another, when he stuck out his tongue, pieces of meat were placed on it. Then very slowly he took it in, and with complete deliberation he chewed on while the others stood waiting.

150.   Not once did he open his eyes, with his back straight so he seemed to bend backward, with pride he sat;   so the people waited while they loudly gulped down only saliva, so hungry they were.

151.   After he had worn them out (practically plucked them, feather by feather), then "Now I am full!" he said, so at last they passed food out and going in among the people, they gave it out to each as they ought. So they feasted happily. By now they regarded the boy as very powerful.

152.   After a few days he made a hoop and caused his grandfather to send it rolling, saying, "Grandson, there goes a buffalo!" Then, as he did, the boy stood aiming, and as it went by he sent an arrow into it, and a fat buffalo fell rolling.,/P>

153.   Four times they did this, and now four buffaloes (too many to be believed as real) lay dead, so the old grandfather sharpened his knives and outdid himself butchering.

154.   Then, unbelievably, the sister of the child-beloved Cokapti was coming from the circle. She entered and sat down.

155.   Iron Hawk in the guise of a boy was sitting there, and she sat so close to him as to almost kill him by pressure. So the grandmother said, "My grandson is covered with red paint, so he might get some on you, sit away from him." And instead she said, "What if he does!" and put the boy on her lap.

156.   So she sat holding him, while the grandmother cooked the choicest meats and gave her food. In a wooden bowl she set it and let her take some home, so she really left, so definitely, and then later the old man stood looking into the distance and said:

157.   "Well, that young girl who left here in good spirits, look out there, alone she stands, unhappy. What has displeased her?   Perhaps you didn't give her the best piece and she is pouting."

158.   Later she came back saying she was returning the bowl.

159.   So the old woman said, "Daughter-in-law, when you left, you stood yonder in a bad manner, it seemed , what was it?"

160.   "Yes, it was because of my sister that I stood unhappy." she said. "When she married, I tried to glimpse him who was my brother-in-law for just one time, but she forbade me, and now after that she wanted the food you gave me for her husband, but I withheld it so she slapped me in the face," she said.

161.   "O dear, why didn't you give it right over and come again!   Look at all this, who is going to eat it all, pray tell?" So she cut out the very best pieces and cooked it and placed it in two hollow dishes in equal quantities and said, "now take one of these to your sister, takoš!" So she took them home.

162.   It was morning, and then a crier went around. "Get your bows ready and straighten your arrows. The red fox is running again;   it used to be said who shoots it shall have Cokapti, but now that she is wed, who does shoot the red fox shall have the skin for his own trophy to hang at his tipi," he said.

163.   All the people with clamours raised an uproar, and this time they tried to keep their wits as they stood aiming.

164.   From time immemorial when this went by, they tried to shoot it, but somehow it always clouded their senses, as it were, now after it went by they censured one another, "Why didn't you shoot it?" they said.

165.   Once more they were frozen on the spot, so the boy shot it and his grandfather ran and flayed it and brought the hide to him.

166.   Again at exact noon they cried, "Now again it comes, the red eagle;   this time stand ready, and at least one of you try to shoot it!" they cried, but it approached awesomely indeed.

167.   It flew so low that as they stood looking up they could see its black and cruel eyes staring at them. So they were stricken with fear and nobody shot, so only the boy sent an arrow and brought it down.

168.   Instantly his grandfather ran to pull out the feathers and brought them, not to be likened to anything for color;   and they hung them up.

169.   But of course this was out from the camp circle so the people did not know, and continued scolding each other.

170.   "Grandmother, go and borrow a kettle," he said, so again she went to the one who had formerly lent her a large one, and now many people were about so they all helped, and they gave a feast with the choicest parts of buffalo which all cooked. And the pseudo-Iron Hawk came first and spent much time posing.

171.   In the morning a woman was coming from camp so the old woman watched and waited;   and she arrived saying, "Sister-in-law, I was sent on an errand, but I came fast on it because you have fine meats and I thought I might get a piece to eat," she said jokingly.

172.   "O yes, it is good you have come, Sister-in-law;   food is so abundant who is able to consume it all!   Go inside, I will cook for you." So now after a time she set out food for her, so she satisfied her hunger thoroughly and on finishing she said,

173.   "Now, this is what I bring:   I have come for the boy you have;   Cokapti's sister wants to marry him," she said, and at once the old woman's face changed ... long still she sat, and at last,

174.   "O, surely not, Sister-in-law!   To be sure my grandchild has supernatural power, but after all he is still a child ... moreover, he is quite homely, how would anyone want to marry him!   Sister-in-law, perhaps they make sport of us?"

175.   But the boy who sat hearing said, "Go and tell this:   She is to come and turn about here before me, to start back, and as she turns she must say, 'I come to invite you.' After she returns, I will go there. If I arrive there but she fails to recognize and take hold of me, I will return home ... four times she is to invite me, and I will go there four times ... and if she fails all the time, well then, just hear this, I will never marry her!" he said.

176.   So with that message the woman went away and told it, and at the chief's home there was great excitement. And already a beautiful white tipi was being erected so everwhere people were saying, "My, I wonder what that's for!" and some there are who always seem to have heard what is going on, and they said, "Haven't you heard?   Why that sacred boy is going to be presented with a wife, that's what the activities are for;   can it be you do not know?"

177.   Meantime the boy asked his grandparents to go outside and wait beyond the hill, so now because he always has some wisdom back of his requests, the went without questioning why.

178.   "Sit there, when I come after you, or when I decide to remain at that place (the chief's), then you may return," he said.

179.   Now, as it was going to be, the younger daughter of the chief made herself attractive and was coming, so indoors in the honor-place he sat in sight, and she entered without a word, and turned to go, and said, "I have come to invite you!" So he said, "very well," but still he sat, and she went home.

180.   About the time she reached her home, he went there, with a holy body he went.

181.   As he neared the place, while they all stood watching, he threw himself to the ground and rolled and stood up, a grey-horn, hollow-horn buffalo, passing extra fine, about a two-year-old.

182.   Then directly pawing the ground he came, so he frightened the people and made them scatter to make way for him;   and he went and in the very faces of the girl and her father where they stood, but instead (of catching hold of him) she hid her face and cried out ... afraid of him, so then he turned and came home, and becoming a man again he sat down.

183.   Three times he did this, but each time she feared and did not touch him. The second time he was a slippery-horn buffalo, and the third time it was a great-buffalo but the kind called "hekagipa."

184.   When she failed the third time, the girl's father scolded her, "Daughter, I think highly of you, I raised you, lacking nothing, now you have the chance to benefit the entire tribe and you fail.

185.   "This boy has wakan-power attached to him, so he is to be relied on, yet you are going to miss hold on him, the way you are acting.

186.   "Remember this, Daughter, he comes for the last time. If you fail again to hold him, I shall consider it an easier thing to have you dead, and this failure I shall find harder to bear because you are going to bring evil on the people." so, holding onto her for emphasis, he warned her and now she stood ready.

187.   And again the boy approached, and when he rolled close by he was an ancient-bull, with horns worn to the head (worn down to the base). Fearsomely he came running.

188.   Almost knocking the girl down, he came directly at her, but she thought only of her father's stern warning, so she suddenly reached out with eyes tight shut,and took hold of him somewhere.

189.   Immediately there was confusion, and then all recovered their senses, and lo, a helpless little boy had been knocked down and his nose was bleeding as he arose.

190.   So now the holy boy and the woman given him lived in the white tipi.

191.   Outside it there was a feast and it was a feast never surpassed in greatness;   so everyone had part in it.

192.   The boy's grandmother contributed good things too, and the newly married ones sat indoors and were eating when her sister, (why didn't she continue being proud?) now lured by the feast, came and stood looking into the doorway.

193.   Now it was her turn, and the sister ordered her off, "No, Elder Sister, stay outdoors, we are yet soiled and full of lice, perhaps ... " so she said, so the sister went off weeping.

194.   Somewhere she must have allowed her tears to go back in, and now she sent for her father, "What is it, Daughter?" he asked, and she said, "Father, always you have said you have me for your favorite daughter, and that my sister being younger somehow grew up unnoticed, yet she, now she has taken a famous husband, is very vain from it, and makes sport of me.

195.   "Tomorrow I want ten men to be sent by you to my tipi. There my husband has brought me some ceremonially red trophies, so I want them to be set up over my home that the people may see them." So the father said, "All right, I will send them, Daughter;   do not be unhappy;   your sister is still too young to have a settled heart, that is why she has done so," he said.

196.   And soon after, the girl also sent for her father, so he went. "Father tomorrow will you send five men here?" she said. So the father said he would.

197.   Now it was evening, and the holy boy sent for his grandmother too, and she came. "What is it, Grandson?" - "Grandmother, go to that yellow-legged one who lives within the camp circle and say to him, 'Iktomi, Iron Hawk sends for his clothes, you have been wearing them long enough!' Say so to him."

198.   So the old woman, confused in her mind, went and stood in the doorway and inside many men who were visiting were seated with him and smoking.

199.   "O, go along away!   you can't come here!" once again Cokapti said, but paying no heed, "Yellow-legged Spider, Iron Hawk sends for his clothes, you have worn them long enough!" she said.

200.   "Well, of all the nerve!" - "She is just a foolish old thing!" so the men said, but Iktomi, smiling, called, "Pass them to her, pass them to her!" And he sent out the clothes he wore when he took a wife, so the old woman brought them home and went in, and there sat her grandson, apparently not the same as the little boy with sores in the nape of his neck whom she drew out of a pit;   so he was Iron Hawk all the time!   How handsomely he had righted himself, and he sat smoking.

201.   He put on his clothes and called his wife:   "Tell your sister to come," he said, so although they had recently hurt each other's feelings, she went and said, "Sister, he sends for you!" So she came.

202.   When she was seated indoors, he said, "Now, sister-in-law, you and your sister have used bad words to each other, you rated youself as inaccessible, while your sister was more generous, and now she is my wife.

203.   "Perhaps you will think - now that my brother-in-law has elevated himself, he may be mean to me, - but do not think that;   see that you do not," he said.

204.   No doubt her heart had been heavy, for when he said that she was suddenly very relieved and happy;   for it is especially hard when folk of one household turn against each other.

205.   "Now go along, let us go to the wilds," he said, so his wife went with him. And there with no eyes to spy, he made her lie down and changed her into a cow. And he too rolled and stood up, a short-horn bull. And there he made her a young, and again in their human form they returned.

206.   But while they still retained their buffalo form, he said, "Go meandering all over this plain, and drop buffalo hair as you go." So the beautiful cow did so, and then they rolled and became Lakotas again.

207.   Now ten men came to Cokapti's home, so she gave them the packages her husband had brought her, and they revealed a common coyote skin, apparently the fur of a mangy coyote, and some crow feathers that were not perfect;   so according to instructions they tied them to the tip of the lodge pole and went away.

208.   And then five men went to Iron Hawk's home, and his wife gave them a bundle which they untied, and there was the scarlet hide of the sacred fox, which so many had tried and failed to shoot, and that eagle who seemed to live but to frighten the people - its feathers, as though dipped in blood, were brought to light.

209.   So they tied them to the tipi top, and from all sides everyone came to see them, and crowds stood about the tipi.

210.   Then again Iron Hawk said, "Now collect all the arrows you own, I want them," so they did so and brought them, and then he sent two scouts forth.

211.   That was the first itme what is commonly called "Being sent to the hills" was instituted.

212.   First they feasted them, and when they were well satisfied, they sent them out to scout, so they went and climbed to a distant hill within sight of the tribe, while men watched from home.

213.   Then all of a sudden they ran back and forth and threw their robes upward and then came rushing home.

214.   Then Iron Hawk smoked with them, and said, "Now, young men, over the hills and vales always you roam about, at what special place it may have been that you saw something good, then tell it;   and if you do not fool me, then point out the direction with your thumb!"

215.   So they did and said that buffaloes have come beyond a certain hill and filled the place beyond, so it looked as if covered with black. "You make me grateful!"   Iron Hawk said. (Thence the custom of buffalo scouts using the thumb to designate the presence of buffalo, if they are speaking true.)

216.   "Now all stay quiet here," he said, so now because he so lived that it was not possible to overstep his commands, they obeyed and stayed.

217.   So then he and his wife and the ten young men whom he selected, and the collected arrows which he caused them to carry - that many went out.

218.   And out of sight he caused his wife to lie down in a hollow, and then threw a buffalo-hide over her, and commanded her to roll under it;   and she stood up as a handsome buffalo-cow.

219.   "Now, go among the buffalo, and then come and circle about me and go back out again;   four times you are to do this, while these with arrows will stand ready behind me," he said.

220.   So she went among the herd and walked about and the buffaloes grew restive and couldn't stand still, and they made advances towards her, and followed her part way when she left, but then they turned back.

221.   Each of the fur times they grew bolder and came closer, and the fourth time they simply accompanied her and crowded each other all around Iron Hawk.

222.   So the ten young men, stationed ready behind him, now shot off arrows rapidly one after another and didn't miss aim one time;   each and every arrow killed a buffalo. Of course long before it had been decreed for Iron Hawk that he should never miss a shot, and so he was able to cause the ten to do this.

223.   Then he ordered them to collect all the arrows, and also all the tongues. "As for me, I will go on ahead," he said, and with his wife they came on home.

224.   "Now you may all go to get meat!" So instantly the people - poor things, always so eager when food is available! - now went and amidst great activity they all went to the scene.

225.   They walked, of course, so it was a great task to get that much meat home;   but it was too good to be true that there was actually meat, so carrying it in blanket loads they brought it home, and for once in their lives they were satisfied and had a superabundance.

226.   All day they hauled meat, and when nighttime darkened the scene, they had finished, and then they feasted and danced happily.

227.   Soon after this the woman went out only with her husband to the wild places, and there in the form of a cow she kicked and labored and brought forth her young, the most perfect little calf that ever was.

228.   It being Iron Hawk's child, and a boy, he was overjoyed and proclaimed his name:   After the manner of his little meadowlark grandfather he announced it and did it in the same way.

229.   A little calf, reddish tawny, very small yet already perky, ran about, so he caught it and holding it he stood, and though nobody was around, he called out and said:

230.   "Now all, whatever lives all over this world; " whatever has life and moves thereon, and the winged beings too, listen!

231.   "This day a boy is born to me, so I am proud and happy and how he shall have a name, 'Red Calf' he shall be called!   Wherever you see him, mine, if he appears to have trouble, take pity on him for me, my friends!" he said.

232.   Having done so, they were again in Lakota form, and a beautiful baby, not yet with eyes opened, they brought him back, so all the people came to see him.

233.   As he grew older, that grandfather who took Iron Hawk from the pit, often came to sit and hold his little grandson.

234.   When it was very energetic and full of action, the old man said, "Grandson, your father-in-law already has four grandchildren. They are the children of yellow-legged Iktomi so they are not what they might be, but they are his grandsons, so he continually has them about;   so I would like to take this one and teach him," so Iron Hawk said, "All right, it is as you wish!"

235.   So he taught him to walk, and talk, and play.

236.   He made toy arrows for him and taught him to shoot, so the little boy always stayed close to his grandfather through fondness. "Now shall my grandchild be tall!" he decreed, and it was so.

237.   Thus they lived on, and suddenly Iron Hawk returned from the center of the camp, and back of his lodge was his wife, fleshing a robe.

238.   And the boy, now tall, ran around with his arrows, so he came to him and said, "now, Son, I have a grandfather at the edge of the world, there he raised me, and he gave these to me, this cap, and this knife and these bow-and-arrows.

239.   "That grandfather heard when I announced your name, so he will always know you by these tokens, take a good look at them, and some day when something happens to me, take them and go to him," he said.

240.   And that displeased his wife. "The idea! ... it is sacred, to say that! (offence against taboo.) Why should anything happen to you?" she scolded.

241.   But then he laughed, "Say, it is very warm, let's go swimming, you ought to have enough done by now," but she was unwilling. "O, this is all I have left to do, so little, I do want to finish before sundown," she said in objecting.

242.   Thrice he asked her but she refused, so the fourth time he begged her with embraces to go with him.

243.   But even that was useless, so then, for want of anything more to say, "Well then, I shall go alone," he said, and went.

244.  The water flowed at a good rate, and it was not such a wide stream, but it was the kind of river bed wherein one can wade for a time, and then suddenly it is beyond one's depth - such it was.

245.   The cooling water woke him up, and so he swam with vigorous strokes, and then he climbed to the bank and sat to rest, letting the sun warm him.

246.   And suddenly somebody from somewhere shouted, calling him by name. "Iron Hawk!"   she said, and it was a very beautiful woman-voice.

247.   He sat up vey straight and listened,and again she called, &quto;Iron Hawk, from far away I have come to see you;   do comeover here!   You who live in a way to demand fame, you being so, I have come to you!" and he saw that the call came from across the river.

248.   "Why, it is deep, so I can't come over!" he called back, but again she asked, so impatiently he called, "It is deep, I can't come, I tell you!" but still she called him.

249.   "Well!   Isn't she unbearable! ... if you are so anxious to see me, why don't you come over here?" he said, but she complained she could not cross.

250.   So then, "Well, I have already made it plain!   If it is impossible for you to come over here, it is just as much so for me to cross to you!" Yet she asked a fourth time, so then, "All right then!" he called and rolled a few times in a wallow, and rose, a short-horned buffalo, solid and powerful.

251.   Instantly he threw himself into the water, and the current was swift so even a bull had to struggle hard to get across.

252.   And there among the tall grasses was a short, heavy-set but very pretty girl, who kept looking into his face, smiling.

253.   "All right now, you invited me, and here I am. How are going to cross back?" he said, and she said, "O, I shall sit on the small of your back and hold onto your hump." So he agreed to that.

254.   Now again into the water with her on his back he threw himself and swam back, and when he was in midstream, suddenly she started to raise him up, and he was conscious of it.

255.   With all his might he struggled, shook his whole frame, and tried to make himself heavy, but quite easily, as though fishing him out of water by a single grasp, she took him upward.

256.   After a time, though they were not flying, they travelled toward the sky, and as they went the world grew smaller, and finally it disappeared, and way up there was a small hole through which they entered into the sky world.

257.   It was now dark, but he had not returned, so the boy was fretful, so he asked for his father.

258.   "Sit quiet son, your father went swimming;   by and by when he is through, he will come home,"she kept saying, but after a time she too became worried, so she told it, and then though it was the kind of night when the darkness is very black, the greased sticks and lighted them, and hunted for him all up an down the shores.

259.   All the people made small, as it were, by their concentration on one thing, hunted all night, calling to him, but they did not find him by dawn.

260.   At the very beginning she had first looked for him and called to him and he hadn't answered, so she had given the alarm, "Come here, all, do!   My husband has gone somewhere ... Mine has drowned, perhaps!" she had cried, so they had hunted for him, but now they had all gone home, and so again all alone, "Iron Hawk, where have you gone?" weeping and calling, she roamed about.

261.   "He has drowned," was the general verdict, so she was weeping over it but her son said, "Mother, just where was it father always went to swim?   Take me there!" so she took him, and there were his moccasins and clothing that he had worn, all lying in the grass.

262.   And the boy sat right down on the spot and said, " Mother, go home, here I will wait for my father." So the mother was alarmed, "No, Son, your father has drowned. If you sat here all alone, he would never return, and something might befall you too!" she said, in refusing to leave him.

263.   Four times she forbade him, but when he would not obey her and was still determined, she finally said, "All right then. It was because I insisted on my own way that this happened in the first place," so she murmured, talking to herself as she stood.

264.   "Well then Son, be on your guard as you sit here. By and by I will come to you," she said and left him. So when he was alone, he put on the magic cap, and with his magic knife and bow in his hand he said,

265.   "Now then, Grandfather, wherever you sit in the east, hear me!   You it was gave these to my father, and with them certain power and strength;   and that power and strength I now beg of you. These my father left behind and went off, taking only his body, so I want to go out to seek him!"

266.   Instantly he made himself into a great hawk, and very directly upward, so effortless as to seem as though he stood still, he soared upward, and through that small opening into the sky he entered the upper world.

267. &nbps; Right near there in a circle were a people camped, and from them came a man with his head bund in a black fillet, and these were škibibila (Chickadee people). And he said:

268.   "Well, young man, they brought your father here, so all the people saw him. Just about here he was exhibited, so the onlookers stood in a ring, and here are the tracks they left ... But since then it is now nine days!"

269.   So he went on from there and arrived at another camp. From there a little man with his shirt-front well blackened with soot came to meet him and said,

270.   "Well, they said a boy was coming to seek his father, can it be you?   Well then, they stopped here with your father to exhibit him, and so the people in a great circle had their fill of seeing, and then they took him on ... but since that time it is now eight days!" And these people were the birds known as the black-breasts.

271.   Again he reached a camp, and a man came to him. That nation was made up of the birds called "Big - without eyes," those who return so promptly in the spring, and without so much as any fear like, "They might freeze for me," they promptly lay their eggs. That is the kind these were. They wear black around their heads and their collars, and otherwise they are grey.

272.   "Well boy, your father was brought here and shown, and the people outdid themselves as spectators;   right here you can see the tracks they left in a ring ... but it is now seven days since then," he said.

273.   Again he arrived at a camp, and the people were those birds called "Wings-of-eagles" (common snowbirds);   they are the ones that stay on all through the winter. One came to him, saying, "Well boy, already it has been spread abroad that someone would seek his father;   that boy must be you. They stopped here to exhibit your father, and because the people had never seen a man of the earth, they piled up on each other to see ... but that was six days ago."

274.   So at once he set out from there and came to a camp. And that was made of those very little birds called bluebirds. They constituted this tribe.

275.   From camp a man well painted in blue came to him. "Well, well, it was told that Iron Hawk's son is seeking his father!   Well now, your father was brought here, so the people feasted their eyes ... but it was five days ago."

276.   So again he went and came to a tribal camp and rested nearby. And a man with red paint came out to him. These were the redbirds who formed this tribe.

277.   In about the same way as the others he said, "Alas, now it is four days since your father was taken on from here."

278.   Gradually they were indicating a place nearer and nearer in point of time, so he braced up at the thought, and again he went on, and he arrived at another camp.

279.   And those were the robin tribe. Brids of a red-yellow coat with grey on the shoulders - such they were. And they said, "Since your father was taken on from here, three days have passed."

280.   So he went on, and came to a tribe made up of very vociferous people. One could hardly distinguish what they were all saying, so universal was the chatter. you know those birds, blue-black, they insist on remaining in the corn-field and will not be driven away, - such they were, (Bluejays, I think.)

281.   "Well well, friend, it is good you have come!   Stay here with us!   Please!" they said and clung to him, but he said he had to go on quickly, so then, "O, in theat case, your father was exhibited here only two days ago!" they said. So from there he went on quickly.

282.   He came to a tribe of big-nosed, blue-eyed people who wore black paint all over their bodies;   and they came and surrounded him. "They brought your father here;   but they took him on again, only one day ago. If you start and keep going, you will perhaps catch up with him," they said, so from there he went on and arrived at another tribal camp. And those were magpie people, and they came to meet him and escorted him home.

283.   "My, my, he is such a young boy to be attempting such a stern duty as a trip like this!" they said, marvelling at him. "Now, friend, we know you seek your father. They brought him here but exhibited him only a short time, and they took him ... it was only this morning they did so;   and the grasses which the spectators crushed down are only now righting themselves."

284.   So having eaten, from there he went on and came to a great tribe in which all the men and women seemed especially roundish (squatty, with a big girth).

285.   He would have gone to them, but they were so occupied with something at the center of the camp, and he for his part was tired enough to die it seemed, so he could not drag himself there;   so out where there was a forked log of rotting wood he lay down, and cried from exhaustion.

286.   A woman evidently was passing nearby, for she exclaimed, "Well, here is a boy crying! ... But under no condition shall my grandson lie out here and weep!" and she picked him up.

287.   She was an old woman, and she took him towards her home, saying on the way, "Grandchild, all the wise men are in council at the camp center ... they are the ones who recently sent a woman who is always desirable to men, and she returned almost at once.

288.   "There was a holy man named Iron Hawk, at the east edge of the world, so they sent her to somehow trick and bring him home;   and one would think it was already arranged and rehearsed the way she returned with him at once;   that is what they are excited about.

289.   "Long ago once he killed a woman from this tribe, so they wanted him also to hold as a captive. They are sitting there now, with him guarded there;   and tomorrow when the sun is highest, they will kill him;   so no matter how vast the multitude, don't you worry, you shall eat a bit of the liver! ... of all the people in the tribe, in order that they all may have a share, they say they are going to cut him up into tiny bits," she said, so he started to cry, and she said, "Don't cry, child, you certainly shall eat of the liver!" This she said to comfort him!

290.   It was dawn when the crier went around saying, "This is the last chance to view Iron Hawk before he is put to death! ... Arrive on the scene with the rising sun, force yourselves awake, and with your children come narrowing the circle to this point!" he called.

291.   "There, there, child, get up, it is exactly as I said. But you stay at home, I will certainly bring a bit of the liver to you!" she said, waking him up.

292.   "No, Grandmother, I must go with you!" So again she explained:   "No Grandchild, these are no ordinary folk, they are supernatural people. Even when they simply knock against each other in passing, they hurt each other, so they are dangerous;   you better just stay at home!"

293.   And they say these were the people who fall as "something moving" (supernaturally endowed pebbles), in the tying rites, wherein they go to work for the diviner.

294.   Four times successively he said he would go, so then she took him with her to the center where the crowds were surging. And she worked herself through the mass of spectators with her grandson on her back, until she came to a place where she could see.

295.   And there in the exact center of all a very beautiful but rather frivolous young woman sat smiling (defiantly).

296.   She sat with legs spread wide, and in their midst sat the huge buffalo-bull on his haunches, filling tightly into the space. And the young woman had her arms fast about his waist in the small of the back so he could not get up.

297.   But the boy knew that was his father. The bull, the instant he looked the boy's way, snorted as an angry beast, so the people backed up somewhat in fear, but Red Calf knew his father's language, so he understood what he had said, hidden in that buffalo's snorting:

298.   "Alas, my son, why did you come?   Even I, this day before it ends, I am to be killed!" he said.

299.   "Grandmother, set me down!" he said, squirming frantically, but the old woman only tightened her blanket about her repeatedly, holding him more snugly in place, as she said, "No, Grandchild, even when these people bump into each other accidentally, they injure each other!   I have already told you so!" but he insisted all the more, and now already he had demanded to be put down four times, so she said, "All right then, keep directly behind me!" and she set him down.

300.   At once he placed one of his father's magic arrows at the bow and aimed at the woman who held Iron Hawk prisoner;   from behind his grandmother's skirt he aimed.

301.   And the young woman saw him and called out, "O please hold him, or he will kill me!' - as if anyone would say!" And she hid back of the buffalo.

302.   He tried four times but each time she would call out in those words and hide, so the people tried to think whom she referred to and they looked about. They never once suspected the tiny boy that stood so small; " so when this happened the fourth time, he sent the arrow anyway, and his father dodged very suddenly so the arrow pierced the woman and scattered her into grain-like bits.

303.   She was a Rock woman, so of course everyone feared gravel in their eyes and ran in fear in all directions, for the small pieces flew about like hail stones.

304.   At once the bull sprang up, and with snorts he rushed to his son and taking him on his back he fled, so all the people chased them.

305.   But some old men were smoking, sitting off to one side, and as the pursuers ran past they told them to stop. "Let them go. That son of Iron Hawk, he who is named Red Calf is with his father, and never can you get them.

306.   "Red Calf is little but he is magic, that is why he even shattered Rock-Has-Horns-Woman herself;   what show have you then, weak as you are!" So they turned about and went home.

307.   So the two transformed themselves into humans, and with the boy carrried on the man's back still, they came on running.

308.   As they approached the first tribal camp on their way, which was the magpie nation, one ran out to meet them and then as they kept right on, he ran alongside, breathlessly saying, "Boy, stop, please - all the people are impatient to hear how you rescued your father, so they want you to relate it!" but the boy said, "Go right on, Father!" so he did, and they went on past and again they came on to the next camp.

309.   These were the crow people with their huge noses and blue eyes. With pitiful entreaty they begged them to stop, but they kept on and came past, and the third camp was now near.

310.   Again they begged them to stop, but they came on. That was the robin camp. Then they came on past the redbird camp.

311.   Still they came on and passed the tribal circles of the bluebirds, the Wings-of-eagles, and the Big-lacking-eyes, and then the Black-breasts, and they also begged them to stop, but they disregarded them all and came on.

312.   It was not the birds they feared, but they were afraid the Rock nation might catch up with them.

313.   At last they came to that first camp where Red Calf went upon his arrival to the sky-world;   they were the Chickadee people. They are the birds that always come first in spring before the snow melts, and they make it merry with their singing.

314.   Then the late-spring blizzard comes and several freeze to death each year, but they do not profit by that;   they still arrive too early.

315.   It is later that the other birds return.

316.   Now it semed reasonably certain they would not catch up with them from the Rock nation, so they stopped there to rest, and they were shown every honor and feasted.

317.   And the people said, "Rest here for some days, you are very weary. Meantime, your grandfathers will have a conference to decide how they may effect your return."

318.   Ans so from each of the ten bird nations their best representative was picked and sent to this council as the best thinker, and those conferred.

319.   Whatever their proposals, there they carried on in the council tent, and finally one was sent to call Iron Hawk and his son to their deliberations. And they told them:

320.   "Now, this have your grandfathers decided as the best thing for you:   A container shall be made for you in which you may ride down to your home. But one request only they beg:   that as you step onto the earth again, you will touch your vehicle to the earth and jerk on the suspension rope.

321.   "Then we shall pull it back up. The Great Spirit made us as well as you, but because he has so many different activities he forgot and left us up here, and here we have stayed.

322.   "But if that container is touched to the earth, then thereby we can go down there to live where we belong." At once all the birds went to work, and they built the one thing they can make better than anyone else, and it was a beautiful thing.

323.   With fine willow they made the frame, and then they lined the interior with their own feathers of every kind and color woven into designs, and then it was nice and soft when they finished it.

324.   Then they took very long willows and split and made braided ropes of them, and fastened them at four points to the rim of the nest, and then they twisted all four into one huge strand, and it was ready.

325.   When the time was ripe, as they said, they caused Iron Hawk and his son to get in, but it was so large they were lost in it as they sat.

326.   So, like letting a bucket into a well, they sent them downward and after a sufficient time, very gently they landed on the earth, so they stepped out.

327.   Somebody saw them, so everbody ran to them across the prairie, but Iron Hawk bade them stand off. "My relatives, first, for a time, stay away. My friends have done me a great kindness;   now I shall do them one!" he said, and with great reverence he touched it next to the earth, and then gave a few jerks on the rope, so they pulled it back into the sky. The next morning the ten entire bird nations came down to earth in the huge nest in which they sat, as though held in a cupped palm, and on landing, it is said they scattered over the earth.

328.   Now then at last Iron Hawk returned to his people, and his father-in-law the chief, now an old man, came to him, and "Ha o, ha o, my son-in-law!   Such unexpected good luck!" he kept repeating as he ran his hands over him tenderly. "Son-in-law, your wife, and mother-in-law, your grandparents, all have cried themselves out and are in mourning. It is well you have come home!" he said.

329.   So Iron Hawk ran direct for his home, and his wife with eyes swollen from weeping came to meet him, and he embraced her, and when she saw her boy well, she cried for joy.

330.   And behind the family came all the people in a great mass to welcome them.

331.   Then it was that his old grandmother came half-crying to complain to him: "Grandson, you were lost so I went to Ikto and said, 'O Grandson, if there is any way your younger brother can be found, please think what it might be, and have it done,' and he said, 'that can't be helped, if he is lost, it is because he didn't have good sense, what is that to me! " Why all this fuss over one man, anyway!' he said, and Grandson, he sent me on by giving me a push," she said.

332.  So Iron Hawk sent for "The yellow-legged one." So they brought him, but while he was yet far off, coming, he was talking gaily, "Well well, well, how nice you are back, my brother. Why all the people were poor because you left them, and they all but killed themselves weeping. If man died from weeping. I would have been lying a dismembered skeleton long ago!" he said as he came.

333.   So Iron Hawk, who had planned to speak sharply to him, let it go. "What's the use!   What is he, the wretch, is he worth anybody's making himself angry?   Isn't he Iktomi!" he said.

334.   But his grandmother stood with her cane ready and when Ikto passed, she dealt him such blows as left welts on his body, and thus she cooled off her anger.

335.   Then a crier went by, "Come all, bring what choice foods you have on hand for Iron Hawk, so that he may eat!" So as if they were ready and waiting for this, they brought him everything, wasna among other things, and fine cured dried meat in great containers of parfleche. "Perhaps this is more than enough, but if so, his wife or his grandmother can lay it by for him," they said.

336.   So he who was wont to feast the tribe now was feasted in turn, so that the entire encampment turned out for it.

337.   So he was sitting within the child-beloved tent eating, when from back of the tipi someone came and called out through the tipi walls, "Iron Hawk, will you come utside?" So he went, and there was a man from away, and he stood there so;   so, "What is it?" he asked, and the man answered,

338.   "Alas, friend, you have just returned, it is said, so I am reluctant to trouble you, yet over here towards the west a grandfather sends for you.

339.   "'I pin my hopes only on my grandson, so call him,' he says. A terrrible thing has happened to him, and he sits in great misery," he said.

340.   "Very well, go and tell the grandfather I will arrive shortly," he said and came back in. So the messenger left for the westland.

341.   When he told this, his wife tried to restrain him with her tears;   "You shall not go ... no!   Only now and with great difficulty have you returned ..." she cried. But their son said, "No, Mother, do not say that, my father must go where men need him," and he returned the magic cap and knife and weapons, so he took them and left.

342.   And it was a blackbird who had come for him.

343.   So after he had left, Iron Hawk followed him, and at the western edge of the earth there was a tipi pitched towards the east, and inside sat an old man with his blanket over his head in spite of the warm day, he sat.

344.   So Iron Hawk went in and said, "Now, Grandfather, you summoned me and now I am here. What is it?" And it was plain on the poor old man's face that his heart was sad.

345.   "Alas, Grandson, across the water there is a tribal camp, and some men came from there to war on me, and they scalped me and took my scalp with them; " so I suffer horribly.

346.   "So I sat here thinking, 'Would that I might somehow or other get it back!' and so I sent for you."

347.   So saying he opened out the blanket and exposed his scalped head, a red, wet spot that was ugly to see.

348.   Iron Hawk gave some bear-cries of anger, and went out. "Just let me get at those wretches! ... wait. Grandfather, I will be back," he said, and he caught such utterances from within as "ha-ye-ha-ye!" breathed out, but he went on (without stopping to acknowledge his thanks.)

349. " He went a while, then he put on his cap with the little claws of the hawk on it, and he suddenly was himself a hawk, so he went flying and circled the tribal camp.

350.   They were holding a war dance and dancing gaily, so he flew low and there on the center sacred pole, set upright, was the old man's scalp, tied to the top.

351.   So he bided his time, and when they turned to the shinny game, and used the pole for a starting point, and were now running away from it so that all eyes were turned that way, he flew swiftly and wrested the scalp from the pole and started back, so instant confusion reigned and everyone was up in arms, and they started to chase him.

352.   And one wise old man said, "You'll never touch him. let him go. That is the one who calls himself Iron Hawk!"

353.   So he came on with it and assumed his own form, and came to the home of the old man. He would have fitted the scalp back on, but it was dry by the wind striking against it out there, and it had hardened into a wrinkled knot, so he had to take time out to soak it in water, and when it was again wet and elastic, he glued it back on for the old man and healed him.

354.   The old man was very grateful. "Ha-ho, ha-ho, (Thank you!) It was for that I chose you, Grandson, and sent for you!   Now, Grandson, I am going to make you a present, for what you have done to win my favor is beyond measure.

355.   "Yonder hang ten ropes, coiled. Choose and take one." So he took one that was not the best, hanging at the end. And then the old man said, "Now, Grandson, outside stand ten holy dogs (horses);   catch one, and it is yours." So he went out and took a smallish one, buckskin colored, which he selected.

356.   Never having done this, he threw the rope into a halter, and the horse came whinnying towards him and thrust his head through the loop, so he tied him fast.

357.   Then he went back in, "Now, Grandfather, I have taken a horse," he said, and "Very good;   you have done well, Grandson. For I am the one who makes holy dogs. I made them out of earth, and put wooden legs on them, and gave them a gentle push from the rear, and they started walking off and were living holy dogs. It is only comparatively recently that they have been making themselves, and that helps me.

358.   "From these, my original handiwork, by and by all over the world there will be holy dogs.

359.   "By some chance, you have picked the very first one I ever made. It is well, my grandson.

360.   "Now, as you go homeward, do not look back. When you reach the last ridge, they you may look. It may that a herd of them might be following you. If so, they will be for you." he said.

361.   So he started homeward, and brought only his buckskin, and did not look once behind him, but when he reached the top of the last ridge and could see the camp circle in the distance beyond, then he looked back and there all over the plain were horses without number, all having followed him now come to a stop, because he had.

362.   Some were with young, and the moment they stopped the colts were at their mother's teats.

363.   Beautiful horses, so he was eager to get them home, but as he neared the camp, it was deserted.

364.   And then a boy came running from the wilds, away from camp. "Father, it was you, but men said it an attacking army, so they all ran to the wilds for safety. I was with them, but I said, 'It is my father,' and I came running back."

365.   So Iron Hawk was happy. "Certainly, you did well, my son;   now go and say, 'Grandfather, my father has returned, and has brought something new with him, and you are all to return, - say that." So he ran back.

366.   When he told this, all the people, eager to see something, came back as fast as they could, and never having seen a holy dog before, these being their first, they stood around admiring them, and then Iron Hawk said,

367.   "Now let the man on the end come forth." So he did, and Iron Hawk had him catch any horse he wished, and it was his to keep. Then the next, and so on, until all had one horse apiece.

368.   Again he went rounds, and again, and again. Thus now all men owned four horses apiece. From that comes the custom of a man, however poor he was at the start of life, being considered as having tribal standing when he has succeeded in acquiring four horses.

369.   Many horses still remained, and those Iron Hawk and his son kept as their own.

370.   Then Iron Hawk said, "Son, let us go to the hilltop. I am thinking seriously about something and you shall hear it." So together they went there and sat down looking eastward, and he pointed ahead and said,

371.   "Over in that direction, at the edge of the world, I was born. An old couple raised me and thought highly of me, but I did not stay with them, I came traveling.

372.   "But I said that some day when I was tired of traveling, I would go back to them;   all these years they have waited, but I have not kept my word to them.

373.   "Alas, doubtless my grandfather sits facing this way, waiting, my son. So if you can, and have the courage to attempt it, I want you to go there. Tell them I am chief over a large tribe over here, and they all depend on me, so I cannot leave them.

374.   "But ask your grandfather to come here instead. By and by, because this day I am scattering horses all over the world, when they arrive there, they shall serve as legs to bring him here ... By these tokens he will know you, so take them along ... go cautiously, for there is bad magic on the way." So the boy went.

375.   [This too he is said to have said, but I forgot it.] "Son, in the west is a nation who understand my speech, and they are related to me. Whenever I confront a threatening enemy, they help me. So you too, if you face danger, say, 'I am Red Calf, son of Iron Hawk,' and certainly they will arrive and help you."

376.   But being a boy, he didn't go in a direct path. "First I will angle towards the north, I want to see the world," he said, and so he was going.

377.   And there was a tribal camp ahead, and he was making his way thither, when there in the road blocking him among the tall weeds, a very beautiful woman with eyes as yellow as melting suet, as it were, lay on the ground, entirely nude. He almost stepped on her.

378.   "How does it happen you lie like this?" he asked, and she said, "I heard you conferring with your father, and when you said you were coming this way, I heard that too.

379.   "And I knew I should never see you if you went directly into camp, so I lay here in your way. Stay here with me, later I will return first and later still, you can come too;   the tipi on the end is my home," she said.

380.   So he stayed there with her, and a good while later only the woman returned. After that he too went, and there in the tipi she had designated, a newborn babe, judging by its weak cry, was fretting. So he went in.

381.   A little boy of a certain size was taking care of a tiny babe, but both were so hungry they were crying.

382.   "What's the matter?" he asked, and "My elder sister returned from staying in the wood, and she had this in her belly and gave it birth and left it, and went on again, so I am guarding it. Last night she again returned here with a man," he said.

383.   "In that case, this is my son, so take good care of him for me, my brother-in-law," he said. So saying he went outside, and called to the Thunders.

384.   Instantly they came in a storm, and with crashing sounds they sent forth their shafts to earth, and they slew a deer, so he cut it up and boiled the deer-hooves till tender, and made a broth.

385.   And he said, "Now, Brother-in-law, take the pericardium, and puncture a hole in it, fill it with the broth, and give it to your little nephew to suck. And take the liver uncooked, and cut it into tiny bits for him;   he will swallow them after a while." So the boy took care of his nephew.

386.   then one day Red Calf heard the boy crying inside, so he looked in, and the boy said, "My sister returned and said, 'What pains you take to raise this one!' And she took us both and hit us against each other, and hurt us," he said.

387.   So he soothed them, and he thought, " Well, what sort of woman was she that she tricked me!" and he marveled that he had been taken in so.

388.   Again he asked the thunders to kill a deer, which they did, so he brought it, and the boy tied the deer-hooves together and hung them up to dry. And when the babe was now lively he tied the rattles to his little wrists.

389.   Then, as his brother-in-law had instructed him, he took his little nephew to a hill and said, "All of you, hear us!   According to what my brother-in-law has taught me to say, I shall speak:   My nephew whom I raise with great difficulty , whom. lacking amother, yet I made him grow, hear this for him:

390.   "From now on he shall bear a name. He shall be called 'Rattling Deerhooves!' So among the peoples he shall live, spreading the fame of that name!" he said, and the little one heard and shook vigorously and rattled the deerhooves on his wrists.

391.   Then the boy's harlot sister again came in from somewhere and said, "I am hungry!   Your are eating deer meat, why don't you share it with me?   Instead you are so busy with this one, you even announce his name ... as though he had a decent start!" she said.

392.   Off she went again;   so Red Calf was very angry, and said, "Take your nephew and go stand under that sacred tree ... I am turning to my friends!" So he did as he was told.

393.   And the Thunders returned in great fury, and they kept up a continuous opening of the eyes (lightning) that seemed to set fire across the sky from horizon to horizon.

394.   So the boy and his nephew remained with eyes tightly shut, and when the storm cleared away, they looked, and his sister, the bad woman, was lying in the center of the tipi with legs spread, killed by lightning;   and not far off was the man she had last come home with, and he also lay dead;   and all the other people were gone.

395.   And then it was clear this was a wildcat nation, and they fled and scattered all over the world, and from then they were never allowed to dwell in a tribal group, because they are congenitally bad-tempered.

396.   To the little boy who saved his nephew, only, was supernatural power given, so he lived well, able to accomplish what he would. "Take care of your nephew. I will come back here and take you both home," he said.

397.   From there he went on and was now heading directly towards the meadowlark grandfather's country.

398.   As he neared it, there on a small hill a solitary figure sat, appearing grey;   so with the intention of making some inquiries he approached him.

399.   And it was an old man, looking westward, and wailing feebly.

400.   When he stopped to catch the words, he heard, "Ah, my grandson,

401.   So he went to him. "Grandfather, stop. I came to see you, for my father sent me with a message for you.

402.   "My father says. 'Tell my grandfather, "when I have had enough of travel, I will return," I said to him once;   but over here I am taking care of a great people, and I cannot leave to come home.

403.   "But this day I am scattering horses all over the world, and when they arrive at my grandfather's, then he can use them as legs by which to come to me, with his people' - thus says my father, Grandfather!" he said.

404.   And the poor little old man, who had now not smiled but wept only for a long time, at last was happy and smiled a wrinkled smile, and with great happiness he took Red Calf home.

405.   "Wife, this is Grandson Red Calf who has come home to us. You remember, this is the son of our Iron Hawk whose birth and name he proclaimed - this is he!   Also Grandson, I have heard recently that one named Rattling Deerhooves is your son," he said.

406.   Hurriedly the grandmother prepared and gave him food, and having eaten he lay down to rest, and from all around visitors came to meet him.

407.   They were greatly excited over his story of the horses that were coming, and they were eager to see them. and they all said they woild go west to Iron Hawk's country and remain there.

408.   When they left, just when he thought he would sleep - after the usual manner of the aged - the little old man filed his complaints.

409.   "Grandson, I lived very well and had no enemies, until, recently, a terrible enemy is after me.

410.   "After awhile, I could not stand it, and I said, 'Just you wait, when my grandson returns to me, he will have it out with you!' This threat I have been making, but your father doesn't appear, and now by this time, he makes sport of me!" he said.

411.   So, "O, that's nothing, Grandfather. My father allows me to use his magic powers. So when it is day, I will go to this enemy, now go to sleep," he said.

412.   When it was day he went there and found that the enemy was a snake;   such a one as crawls into the nests on the ground where the meadowlarks have their eggs and chews up the eggs regularly. But Red Calf called to the thunders, so they came and quickly killed this rattlesnake.

413.   And now the horses were heaving into sight over a ridge that lay across the west, so Red Calf brought them all in and distributed them.

414.   Thus the people all struck camp, and now they migrated slowly westward, and meantime Red Calf sped on homeward ahead of them.

415.   "Father, my grandfather and his people are coming," he said, so it was generally announced, and all the people sat ready to greet them.

416.   Then one early-spring morning, a solitary one, first and ahead of the rest, came and stood on a little hill and sang out this little announcement:   "Buffalo-calf liver, rich to taste!"

417.   And Iron Hawk recognized it was his little grandfather, so he went and got him.

418.   His voice was so pleasant to hear that the people were cheered by it, and happily they went to meet and welcome him.

419.   And from then on it has been, that when spring comes, then at a certain time the meadowlarks return, with their very yellow breasts, and they sing out, "Buffalo-calf liver, rich to taste!"   and once again men come back to renewed life.

    Rattling Deer Hooves' career comes along here somewhere in a copious version, but I can not recall it well enough to repeat it. I am also not sure about the order in which the bird-villages lay, but what I have is approximate. At least I am sure of the kinds of birds that God forgot in heaven.

From "Lakota Texts" by Ella Deloria,   1932.